1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and a carrier adjusting system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Manufacturing of semiconductor devices is performed in a coating and developing apparatus, an aligner, an etching apparatus and the like which are placed in a factory. A photolithography process, for example, in the manufacturing of semiconductor devices is performed in the coating and developing apparatus, which is typically mounted with a plurality of processing units such as a resist coating unit for forming a resist film on a wafer surface, a developing unit for performing developing treatment for the wafer after exposure, a baking processing unit for performing baking processing after the resist coating, before and after the developing treatment, and so on. Further, the coating and developing apparatus is provided with many kinds of carrier arms, and transfer of substrates between the respective processing units, and transfer of a treatment solution supply nozzle and the like inside a predetermined processing unit are performed by these carrier arms.
Incidentally, when a problem occurs to such a coating and developing apparatus and the problem is not solved promptly, restart of the wafer processing is delayed, and therefore availability of the coating and developing apparatus is reduced, which is not favorable.
For example, when a part constituting the coating and developing apparatus is broken or the like, an apparatus manager on a wafer manufacturer side needs to place an order for a part with a parts supplier or the like in order to replace the part. In this event, the apparatus manager needs to specify the name of the broken part, the part number, and so on in order to place an order for a part.
The coating and developing apparatus, however, has many kinds of processing units as described above and is thus constituted of many parts. In addition, typically, the apparatus manager on the wafer manufacturer side who places an order is not familiar with the parts of the coating and developing apparatus. Therefore, when placing an order for a part, the apparatus manager on the wafer manufacturer side cannot specify the name of a part to be ordered and so on in many cases, and therefore often inquires, when necessary, of a person in charge on a side of a vendor of the coating and developing apparatus.
In the inquiry of the person in charge on the vendor side as described above every time a part is broken, it takes time to specify the part and place an order, and thus it takes a long time to obtain a new part, failing to rapidly replace the part. This results in a long time for recovery of a breakage or the like and thus a delay in restart of the wafer processing, leading to reduced availability of the coating and developing apparatus.
Incidentally, when a problem occurs to the wafer processed in the above-described coating and developing apparatus, a considerable cause thereof is a problem of the aforesaid carrier arm. Namely, it is considered that a stop position at a destination of the aforesaid carrier arm is displaced, and that an object to be carried such as a wafer is not carried to a suitable position. In such a situation, it is necessary to adjust the stop position of the carrier arm to solve the problem of the processed wafer. However, so-called position adjustment, which is stop position adjustment of the carrier arm, is fine adjustment that requires care, and an operator performing the adjustment needs plentiful knowledge and experience. In some cases, the carrier arm is positioned at an industrial robot due to its handling risk, and a predetermined license is required. Consequently, when the position adjustment of the carrier arms is to be performed, a manager on the side of the factory of the coating and developing apparatus asks a person in charge on the side of a vender, who has plentiful knowledge and experience, for adjustment, and the person in charge visits the factory side and makes the adjustment.
However, it takes a considerably long time by the time the person in charge of the vender side reaches the factory side from the time when the problem occurs to the processed wafer. Especially when the factory is located at a remote place such as a foreign country, it is conspicuous. When a long time is required for adjustment of the position of the carrier arm as this, processing of wafers cannot be performed during that time, and therefore availability of the coating and developing apparatus is reduced, which is not favorable.
Even the persons in charge on the side of the vender differ in their individual knowledge and experience, and also differ in their skill in the adjusting operation. Consequently, when a plurality of persons in charge are sent to a plurality of factories, there arises a difference in accuracy of adjustment in each of the persons in charge. Such difference in accuracy directly affects the processing accuracy of wafers, and therefore the wafers with different quality are manufactured in each factory, for example, which is not favorable.